Monsters and Myths
by BadgerintheTARDIS
Summary: After ganking a vampire, Dean and Sam find themselves back on the road on a new case. While Sam is still recovering from Gadreel, the brothers find themselves on the trail of a great monster that has been attacking town halls in a small county in Indiana 12 towns in 12 nights. With each attack there's 13 missing people. It's up to the Brothers to save the day.
1. Chapter 1

The rain poured, the thunder boomed, and the lightning flashed across the sky. Students ducked under umbrellas or pulled their hoodless jackets over their heads looking for cover from the depressing weather as they made their way to class. It was a spring day and the semester, for schools like this college, was winding down. Though, while everyone ran from the rain, a strange man stood out in the open staring with a sad, lonely expression at the fountain which was located at the heart of the small campus. The man was clad in dark clothes. A plain black t-shirt covered with a black sport coat and dark jeans covered the man's body. His long dark hair hung with sadness from his head. The man seemed to only be about thirty years old, yet he looked as if he had seen too much in his lifetime. He had no umbrella nor a friend to lend him the shelter of one. He just stared longingly into the fountain as if he were waiting for something to happen. It was a sad sight to see, really. The man's gaunt face hung low with grief.

"Patrick? What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here," a woman's voice questioned his reason for being there. She was right behind him, he knew. She had an umbrella as well. The sound of her voice bounced from something of shelter. The rain fell harder. "Patrick?" she said again.

Patrick shook his head as he closed his eyes. "No...no…I didn't… It wasn't…"

The woman stepped closer to him and wrapped her free arm around him and held the umbrella over his head. "Patrick, we know it wasn't your fault…But the police-"

Patrick opened his eyes and looked at the woman. There was something dark about the look in his eyes...something, almost demonic like. "I'm so sorry…" he muttered, opening his mouth wide as needle like teeth fell into place, hiding what had appeared to be human teeth. "I know who really killed her, Gemma. It was you." Patrick's voice was deep and dark. Revenge was splattered across his expression. He smirked deviously.

Gemma staggered back, away from Patrick. His new appearance had caught her off guard. She stared wide eyed at the thing who once was Patrick Fairworth. He stepped towards her, the rain giving him a devilish look. She screamed hoping someone would see what was happening. "Patrick, please! Listen to me!" But Patrick didn't stop. He grabbed her by the throat with incredible strength, choking her. He brought her close to his body, bending his head down towards her neck he could hear her heart racing, the blood flowing. He hoped this revenge would taste-

SHHHING! Patrick didn't have time to think any last thoughts, nor did he have any time to say any real last words. He dropped Gemma as his head rolled to the ground. A second later his body slunked over and fell with a thud a Gemma's feet. Horrified and attempting to catch her breath she looked up where Patrick had previously been standing. A few inches away stood a pair of men. One was a little over 6 feet tall with long dark hair, the other was at least four inches shorter than his companion with short hair and in his hand a bloodied machete. Gemma could tell they weren't from around the area. There was just something about them that seemed out of place. The tall one came close to her, stepping over Patrick's body, and held out his hand with a comforting expression on his face. While his partner took a rag from his pocket and cleaned the blood from the machete. She looked around and the only people outside were the three of them. Meaning… no witnesses. In that moment she was grateful the two men were there, if it weren't for them… she'd be dead. Weeping she took the tall one's hand and curled into his body as he comforted her. No one would believe her… Her life would be changed forever… but at least she was alive. Unlike poor Patrick, who hadn't truly been alive for centuries.

* * *

Two beers clinked against each other simultaneously, as Sam and Dean Winchester rested against the hood of the Impala. Taking out the vampire had been easy. They solved the case in less than twenty-four hours, not really a record for them, but close enough. The boys deserved to celebrate a little. They had been through a lot more than ganking a vampire, recently. A few months prior Sam had been lying in a hospital bed, dying as a result of the Trials. Dean, being the caring big brother got help from an angel who took shelter in Sam's body in order to heal him. Sam was broken inside. The Trials had done a bigger number on him than the brothers had thought. Dean felt guilty. It was Dean who had wanted to complete the trials, it was supposed to have been Dean. But Sam had come in at the last minute and completed the first trial without even consulting with his older brother.

Dean was still upset about that. He had specifically told Sam, before it all, that he was going to do the trials. And now he felt as if he was failing his father. John Winchester had charged Dean with protecting Sam and to this day, Dean had so far been successful. But this last time he had made a mistake. The angel Ezekiel wasn't who he had said he was. He really was Gadreel, the angel that had been in charge of guarding the Garden of Eden and had been sent to a prison in Heaven as a result. This feathery dick had killed Kevin and taken Sam for a joy ride. After all of that, Dean was just happy to have his brother back.

As he leaned against the Impala in deep thought, he lifted his hand to the Mark of Cain on his forearm. This had become a recent habit of his and Sam apparently noticed.

"Why do you keep doing that?" the younger Winchester said as he stared at his brother. Dean snapped back to reality.

"Doing what?" he asked gruffly.

Sam sighed. "Grabbing your arm in a very specific area," he responded in a tone as if Dean should know what he does unconsciously.

Quickly Dean removed his hand and wiped it on his jeans then shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sam rolled his eyes and finished his beer. "We should get going." He went around to the passenger door and got into the Impala.

Dean watched him, worried. Another lie. When would he stop lying to Sammy? Oh right… probably when they were both dead. He looked at his bottle and saw that it was only half full. He dumped the rest of his beer out in the grass then got in the Impala. It rumbled to life when he turned the key in the ignition. The brothers drove off to the nearest motel for the night.

The next morning Dean woke to find Sam at the table reading a newspaper with a concerned look on his face. It was trademark Sam. Sitting at a table and reading. Probably looking for another case. They just finished one, they should go back to the Bunker for a while and plan what they were going to do about Gadreel, Metatron, and Abaddon. But no. In the end Dean decided that perhaps it was better that they stayed on the road for a little while. It would give them both a chance work out their issues. It's what Bobby would tell them to do, so why not? Dean wiped the sleep from his tired eyes and then looked at the clock. It was 7:30 A.M. He gave a little smile of accomplishment. He had actually managed to sleep more than four hours. A whole woppin' six hours! Bam! A new record! He got out of bed and sat down at the table across from his brother. "So whats in the news today?" he asked casually.

Sam watched him as he sat down. "Nothing much...Only we may have another case," he informed. Ah just as Dean predicted.

"Great, what is it and where?"

Sam flipped back a few pages in the newspaper and laid it down on the table for Dean to see. He pointed to the article. "In the next county over, a town hall was attacked the night of a public town hall meeting. After the confusion was cleared it was discovered that thirteen men had gone missing. Eleven nights before, the same thing happened in eleven other towns within the county. Thirteen men per town. Several people were sent to hospitals for injuries related to the attack. Witness statements haven't been released because of-get this-far fetched statements," Sam informed.

Dean wracked his brains trying to think of what could do this. "You think it's a pagan god of some sorts? The numbers seem sort of specific."

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I say we check it out."

Dean nodded. "I agree. Lets get some breakfast first. I'm starving."


	2. Chapter 2

The old car rumbled to a stop moments after pulling into a gravel parking lot behind the small town hall building. The structure's exterior was littered with yellow police tape and the doors were guarded by two local police officers.

Dean pulled the keys from the ignition and looked at his baby brother. "Ready?" he asked with a gruffness in his voice.

Sam nodded and opened the door. The boys hadn't spoken much unless it was about a case. Usually it was simple questions like 'do you want to stop here for the night?' or 'Are you hungry? Wanna grab some breakfast?' Yes or no questions. Sam didn't want to listen to Dean. He had been ready to die and Dean just intruded and shoved a dangerous angel inside him without his permission. And to top everything off, he lied about it. Dean always lied, but this last time was the worst. When they weren't on a job, he could barely look at the man he called his brother. Dean blamed himself for everything, but it wasn't his hands that had killed Kevin. If Dean hadn't lied, Sam could have gotten control of his body before Gadreel wasted Kevin and the prophet would still be alive. But Dean had to be selfish. He couldn't live without Sam and right now Sam could care less.

Sam watched as Dean got out of the car. He waited a moment, almost bitterly before he followed suit. The boys shut their doors at the same time. Dean straightened his suit coat as he walked around the front of the Impala. Sam straightened his tie to avoid his brother's gaze.

"Let's go get this over with," Dean said as he walked up to the police officers. Just as he did when getting out of the car, Sam staggered behind.

As the brothers approached the cops they pulled out their fake but real enough looking FBI badges and flashed them to the police officers who nodded and opened the door for the brothers.

The interior of the town hall was decorative. Not in the modern sense or even the out of date sixties look, it was like something out of history. The trim around the walls had wood carvings that would have been present in the sixteenth century England. The wooden walls were adorned with antique tapestries, giving the room a warmth that would only exist in another time. If the appearance of the walls wasn't enough, the town hall was literally a hall. Sure there were hallways off to the side, leading to what Sam assumed would be offices, but the entry hall resembled the mead halls he had read about in his History 101 class back at Stanford. The whole appearance of the place struck Sam as odd. Why would a modern town have such a ancient design for their town hall? Maybe Dean guessed right? Perhaps they were dealing with a pagan deity of some kind.

Sam was brought back to reality when his brother tapped his arm with the back of his hand. "Are you seeing this place? It's like they're trapped in time," Dean laughed. "I mean look at the walls. Tapestries, really? Who does that now a days?"

Sam smiled. "Guess they didn't get the memo that it's 2014."

Dean chuckled. "Good one." He then jerked his head in the direction of a burly cop who just finished a press conference. "Police chief, I'm guessing. Ten bucks says he's behind the whole thing."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Ten bucks?" Sam scanned the room, looking for anyone else who might be on the suspect list. "I'll take you up on that. My bet's on the mayor." He pointed to a tall, skinny fellow in a black suit with peppered hair, standing in front of a painting of him, shaking hands with a somber looking woman in a black dress.

Dean looked at Sam and smirked. "You're on." With that the brothers made their way over to the police chief. In unison they pulled out their badges. "Excuse me, are you the chief of police?"

The police officer who had given the press conference nodded. "Yes, Chief Callum Llywelyn." The Chief held out his hand and Sam shook it with his free hand. Llywelyn did the same to Dean who followed suit.

"I'm Agent Richards and this is Agent Lennon," Dean said as the boys showed Llywelyn their badges. "FBI. Can we ask you a few questions about the attack?"

Sam watched as Llywelyn shifted nervously before answering. He avoided eye contact as he spoke. "Uh… Yeah," he said as if indecisive. There was something off about this guy. Sam looked at his brother, who looked back at him as if he was thinking the same thing.

"Where you here the night of the attack?" Sam asked.

The Police Chief shook his head. "No I was not. I was at the hospital, my daughter was having a baby."

Dean nodded. "Okay," he said. "What can you tell about what witnesses have said about the attack?"

Llywelyn shifted again and looked at Dean, squinting his eyes as if he were trying to think really hard. "Well...It was history night...The press stated that it was a town hall meeting, but it was one of those interactive history nights. We're big about that in this county. But uh… The history night was themed Medieval Nights. And there was supposed to be a bard and mead and stuff…Anyway-" Sam looked at Dean who was smirking. He was enjoying every second of this… "-About half way through the story-telling bit, there was a huge rumble and some crazy mad man came running through here. The guy had some deformities and basically went through tearing people apart like some kind of animal! Some of the witnesses actually claim that this thing was some kind of animal… dunno though… haven't been able to get any finger prints off of anything and most of the witnesses were so scared their families have had them put into mental facilities for 72 hours."

The boys nodded. "What about the thirteen men that disappeared following the attack?" Sam asked.

"Still missing. We've got just about every cop in the county looking for these men and the others that have gone missing the past eleven nights," Llywelyn said as he stroked his wispy mustache. "You know I was wondering when you FBI boys would show up. This has been going on for a while now and in eleven other cities...It's pretty insane.."

Dean looked at Sam. Sam narrowed his eye brows. "Do you have a list of witnesses that are willing to talk about what happened?"

The Chief nodded. "Yeah… actually, Mayor James Roth is right over there." He pointed towards the Mayor. The boys turned and looked then turned back to Llywelyn. "He saw the whole thing. I suggest you talk to him before anyone else." Llywelyn looked at the brothers. "Anything else?"

Sam and Dean once more exchanged looks. Sam shook his head. "No. We'll contact you if we think of anything."

The Chief smiled. "Great. I'm going to go change out of this now… this suit induces chafing like no other…" as he spoke he walked away from a surprised pair of Winchesters.

"Wow, I did not need to know that…" Dean said as he turned to his brother. "So… a deformed looking figure… our police chief was 'at the hospital' at the time of the attack...Shifter who can't shift right?"

"No," Sam answered shaking his head. "If it was a shifter then why go to eleven other towns and take hostages? And they haven't found any evidence...Meaning no random pile of melty skin."

Dean shrugged. "The thing did rip people to pieces. Perhaps in all of the confusion, it shed its skin and pulled out a gun and then took his hostages."

"I don't know, Dean. It just doesn't sound like a shifter…"

Dean sighed. "Alright whatever. Let's go talk to Mayor what's his face and then head back to the motel."

"You know what?" Sam started. "I think I'm going to do a sweep for evidence. Perhaps there was something the cops missed. You can go see what the mayor has to say."

Dean sighed. "Really, Sam? We're going to do this here? We're on a case."

"We can't agree on a theory, Dean. You really expect us to go talk to the mayor and agree on who will ask the next question? Besides, someone needs to look for evidence."

Dean shook his head and scoffed. "Fine." He turned around in a dejected manner and stalked off towards the mayor.

Sam watched his brother and just shook his head. A beat later he turned around and headed towards the reception desk by the main entrance. Something was up… what if it was a witch with some sort of illusion spell? Sam looked under the desk and in the drawers, trying to find hex bags, if there were any. And just as expected, nothing. There was a fairly big drawer, probably something that held papers and files. Perhaps there was something in there...Sam tugged on the handle, trying to open it and when it wouldn't budge, he looked just under the handle and spied a lock. He looked up and saw that the room was still full of people. If he wanted to know what was in the drawer, he'd probably have to come back later...when the place was all locked up and empty. Sam straightened his stance and looked around the room. Towards the center of the large hall, there was a replica of the fire pits that were often found in mead halls. Maybe there was evidence there… If the beastie wrecked through the hall, maybe something fell in there? Sam strided to the pit and crouched down, glancing over the replica. Suddenly, spied something...dusty? No… sooty. He reached out his hand and dipped two fingers into the dark, powdered substance. He then brought it up to his eyes. That was definitely soot and charcoal. They must have used the fire pit… But there was no sign of burnt wood or anything… "What the hell…" Sam muttered as he dusted the soot off his fingers. He stood and turned away from the fire pit and studied the floor. There was more… little black powdery specks, scattered on the floor. Sam smiled. Evidence...what ever this thing was...it had something with fire…He knew for certain it wasn't a phoenix because they had killed the last one in 1861...He needed his computer...Sam made his way over to Dean and the Mayor.

"So that's what happened," Mayor Roth finished.

Dean rubbed his temples. "Great. If you can think of anything else give us a call…" he said before turning around walking away. "Let's go, Sammy… this place is giving me a headache… I need some pie…"

Sam opened his mouth to say something, but decided to wait till they were back at the motel. He gave an apologetic look to the Mayor, before turning to follow his brother back to the Impala.


End file.
